Account-cabinet.



B. G. MAXWELL. ACCOUNT CABIHETZ' APPLIOATION FILED MAR. 16, 1910.

1,048,088 Patented Dec.24,19-12.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

B. c. MAXWELL.

ACCOUNT UABINET. APPLIOATION FILED MARJG, 1910.

1,048,088.. Patented Dec.24,1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.'

as a sectiona-l itront elevation thereofth may concern. I

Be it kilhwii Ha -t1, BERT C. MAXWELL, a f United States, residing at oiihty of Stark and State of nvent etla certain new and use- 'pkigoyemen in Account-Cabinet's, of e followihg is a 'full, clear, and description. v i very *bbinihjdn custom in vogue with" 'aii'ts isfto make out duplicate h 'ojrlder purchased by a cus- Oiie dfthese bills is given to the r and theSther is kept the mer- T- s i n3 en'tion"i s especially adapted for -tIieuseof a l nerc'liant doing a credit busi= i m ness',,gand using,the duplicate bill system referred: *to'f I 'the' f mean's for conveniently filing the bills' lfe keeps in such manner 20 at ffiojibooklientries are required to show a any t e't l'ie c" dition of any customers n' the nature of an improveiiiefit up'o account cabinets which form the subject; latter ofmy reissue Pat-- "iit No. 12,597, dated J anuary 15, 1907.

-One-objectot this invention is to put the *"=in vention'" of. said prior patent into better 'manufacturing. folfm that is to say, to put 30 it -iIi-a foriifin which it can be made more a'si-ly 'and cheaply -byinb1uding in the cabinet, a delinquent account compartment and means therein for holding in easily-faccessible positions the tacks of b'i'lls iof the delinquent debtors.

Another objct is to -conceal from the ieW- ofthe' curious the c'ondition of the variousjopenaccoifnts. These and 0therl-*advantages, which will beieferred' to"laterg-are attained by the inven-tio'n ilhistra'teiifli in the accompanying a and hereinafter [described and po'inted dirt-definitely inthe claims.

Inthe drawifig,-1Figure"1 -isaside 'elex a Y tioh partly broken away i of a small cabinet L "'in' whichthis invention is embodied. v Fig. 2'i sa perspectiveivie w of the upper part of such-a cabinet with a part of one side memwearer the'casebroken away "ig, 3 is a plan view of the top; of the cabinet-." aFiga section being through the tapes DT; 2tI'1tl-'--]"ig? '5 ii-perspective view of the connection bemeans of which they are "upon th upper *thereby the tr-a streets" will b'e-"suspended tween one of the -flexible hangers E and the bar F; Fig; 6 is a View of one of the trays: 'Here followsa detailed description-of the "specific embodiment of the invent-ion shown "in the'drawing; It is to be understood, hlowever, that the in'v'ention'is not restricted to thisfispecific construction, and that "the claims arge 'riotto be limited thereto,- except to the extent plainly indicated by their terms.

Referring to the parts by letters, A represents the case which may be formed from single piece ofsheet metal, cutand bent so vn' the two side members as to form asshov a, a, the back a- ,and bottom a The trays are'findicated by B. These are preferably made of sheet metal, and are or may be substantially like the trays shown and described in said prior patent-L 'Atthe right side of the front ends of these strays the up turned ends thereof are cutaway,

and a finger notch b is cut in an oblique direction,this finger notch making it con venient for'anyone to" remove from any tray the bills therein. a 'I haveffound, however, that the vturi ied up. sides of the trays, asfshown in my prior patent, are not necessary {and I' also believe that "the drawings""herein show. better and more practical means for attaching to the several trays the flexible supports-"D, by

flexible hangers E.

In the construction shown, each tray B 'has a loop I) pressed down from its'hottbm. -A tape -D passed through this loop',-that is to 'say, the" tape goes oyer the bottom oat? the tray and over the loop. The loop may then; be pressed upward enough to pinch the tape between the edges ofthe loop and bottom oft-he tray. 1

' The flexible ,j hangers, E are preferably made ofstrongtape. 7 Their upper ends are connected by a bar F; and their lowerends the serfiies s E1 and the several trays are connected-With these hanger tapes by means "of jtI1e tapes I), the

ends of which are sewed onotherwise secured to'the tt'vo e E. At the upper end" 0 e the supp withinthe 'case betwen ra s-th reconnected with the Y may rest, and

, inclined slightly forward fromtheir upper ends, which causes each tray to project forward a little in advance of the tray above it. Coming back to the case, the front edges of the sides a thereof are inclined to correspond with the inclination of the hanger tapes E. Behind the tray series and within thecase is a false back G, which is similarly inclined; and it is so placed that the rear edges of the trays engage with it. This false back is shown as a plate of sheet metal, whose edges are slidably fitted in grooves a formed in the side members a by bending the metal thereof. The upper end 9 of this false back G is bent forward into horizontal position, serving as a partial cover to the case. This part 9 is, however, more especially useful as the support for the tray structure. The front portion of this part 9 is depressed,as shown, and its extreme front end 9 is turned up. The bar F of the tray structure rests upon this depressed portion of the part G and just behind the turned up end 9. At the same time the lower bar F is passed under a tongue a struck up from the bottom a of the case. It has been found desirable to hold the tray structure down by means substantially such as the tongue F which engages, as described, with the bar F. This is because if the structure were not so held down, sometimes the lifting of one of the trays might pull up on the hanger tapes and so liftsome of the trays below, and these might get cramped between the sides of the case or in some Way displaced.

It is customary with merchants using the system of account keeping before mentioned, to put on each bill the amount which the customer previously owed, and to add this amount to the amount of the purchase, and to put the total, which shows the total indebtedness of the customer, near the bottom right hand corner of the bill, When this bill is placed on top of the other bills in a tray this amount, which is plainly visible, shows the total indebtedness of the customer. (See top of Fig. 2) These accountcabinets are generally placed on a counter in a convenient positlon for use, and therefore it is possible for curious people, having no right to do so, to look at the bills and so learn vwhat the several customers Whose names are on the front ends of the trays may chance to owe. To prevent this undesi'rable publicity, a door H is hinged to the front edge of the right side member a, and

is adapted to swing in front of and thereby conceal the rightsides of the trays. This door may be easily swung back When the merchant desires to put bills into or remove them from the trays. V

In the back part of the case between the back a and the false back G is a chamber adapted to hold the bills of the delinquent debtors. A plate J is removably placed in this chamber. On the front and rear sides of this plate are devices j which form pockets or compartments for the reception of stacks of bills. These devices, as shown, are

in the form of wires or plates riveted to plate J and extending upward and outward from their points of connection; but may be made in. many different forms without departure from the invention in its broader aspect. essary that the devices be adapted to form compartments on the side of the plate J in which bills of the delinquent debtors may be conveniently held.

It will be noticed that the trays B are formed with downwardly pressed corrugations close to their edges and extending forward and backward. The tapes pass under these corrugations and engage with them instead of with the sharp edges of the trays, which sharp edges, were it not for these corrugations, would be apt to wear and cut the tapes.

Having described my invention, claim:

1. In an account cabinet, a tray made of sheet metal having a loop pressed down from its bottom, and a tape which passes over this loop and under the tray and is extended beyond the sides thereof, and supportingmembers to which the extended ends of said tape are connected.

2. In an account cabinet, a tray made of sheet metal having a loop pressed down from its bottom, and a tape which passes over this loop and under the tray and is extended beyond the sides thereof, said loop being pressed up to clamp said tape against the bottom of the tray, and supporting members to which the extended ends of said tape are connected.

8. In an account cabinet, the combination of a case, two flexible hangers, cross bars respectively connected with the upper ends and the lower ends of said flexible hangers, a series of superposed trays which lie between and are flexibly connected with said hangers, a support in the upper end of said case on which the upper cross bar may be removably sustained, and a hook in the lower part of said case under which the lower cross bar maybe passed.

4:. In an account cabinet, the combination of a case having connected side members which are provided with internal inclined grooves, a false back plate slidably fitted in said grooves, and a series of superposed and flexibly suspended trays in front of said false back plate and resting at their rear ends against the same.

'5. In an account cabinet, the combination of""a case having connected side members which are provided with internally inclined grooves, a false back plate slidably fitted in Generally speaking, it is only nec-.

sald grooves and having a forwardly. ex-

' tended over-bent upper'end, and a series of superposed and flexibly connected trays which are suspended from the bent over end of said plate with their rear ends resting 1 against said plate.

6. In an account cabinet, the combination of a case, an inclined false back therein having'itsupperend bent forward, into substantially horizontal position and having the extreme front end bent upward, a series of superposed trays, two flexible hangers between which said trays lie and with which I turned extremity thereof.

.theyare flexibly connected, .and a bar connecting the upper ends of said flexible hangers and removably supported upon the upper end of said false back behind the up- 7. In anaccount cabinet, the combination of a case, an inclined false back therein having its upper end bent forward into substantially horizontal position and having its forward extremity bent upward, a series of superposed trays, two flexible hangers between which said trays lie and, with which they are flexibly connected, a bar connecting the upper ends of said flexible hangers and "removably supported upon the horizontal end of .said false back behind the upturned extremity thereof,said case having a'bottom from which a hook is pressed upward,-

' .and a bar. connecting the lower ends of said flexible hangers and, removably placed beneath said hook.

- 8. In 'an-account cabinet, the combination of-a case having side members, and a back, and a false back between-said side members tray, and supporting members to which the and in front of the back of the case, means H I within the space between the said backs for 40 holding account slips and a series of superposed trays flexibly supported in said case in front of the false back. v

.9. In an account cabinet, the combination of a case having side members and a back, and a false back between said side members and in front of the back of the case, thereby forming a delinquent account chamber, and

' a flexible support extending across nearits center and beyond the sides thereof, and means for connecting said support to said projecting ends of said flexib'le supports are connected.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto aflix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

BERT G. MAXWELL.

Witnesses I L. C. WISE,

ANNA SEYMOUR. 

